1991 Riviera Issues

I have a 1991 Riviera. It has about 280K. I am a female with no dependents and make a comfortable living and could afford a new car, but this is my baby. I have put a lot of money in her, but I have no car payments so that's okay. I have had various electrical problems with it, the digital dashboard dipped out, speaker blown on passenger side, but it usually runs well and it is quite fast on take off. As for the dashboard, there is a speedometer app on my phone that I can use and I Heart Radio on my phone for music. Tuesday driving to work, it started bogging down as I was on the turnpike at about 70. It continued all the way to work, a 35 minute drive. When I got off the turnpike and was going lower speeds, it was okay. It did the same thing Wed and Thursday, only it started doing it a lower speeds, bucking and making some kind of snapping/popping sound. My boyfriend and I pulled it in the garage and he kept making it accelerate and narrowed it down to the sound coming from the back of the engine. Maybe plugs or wires. I took it to the local mechanic (who has previously told me to get rid of it when the struts in back were broken from hitting a large pothole). He looked at it and said that I needed to junk it, the engine was shot. I have Tinkerbell carseat and steering wheel covers and he said that 'Tinkerbell needs to be put down'. What he doesn't understand is my love for this car. I do NOT want to put her down! Any suggestions?

It depends on what you want to do/spend. IF the body integrity is good you can fix it (eventually) using junkyard parts. It might be easier to find a replacement in runnin condition and transfer your tinkerbell seat covers to the new (to you) car. There are more of the 1991-1993 Riv around than you'd think especially in the southwest.

Albertj

Really, really late reply, but if you still have the car it sounds to me like your catalytic converter is clogged.